[Drafted] Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The roster is not yet set, we have a gazillion of cap space so it is certainly a possibility that BK is not the starting PG next season. I read in some article that Mo Cheeks wasn't too keen on framing him as a PG when asked.

Whether or not this pick is the "right" pick may take a few years to shake-out, but I can say that this was indeed a brave pick.

When all the "experts" are saying you need a PG and you pass up an in-state Naismith award winning hero who just finished leading his team to the NCCA championship game; that takes some testicular fortitude. Picking Trey Burke would have been beyond safe. It would have been the pick to make if you were more interested in winning a popularity contest than an NBA championship. No matter how Burke turns out, drafting him could have been easily justified by spraying around talking points like "home town guy", "team leader", "college player of the year", etc... Nobody could blame Joe if Trey ended up being a bust for the Pistons.

I'd bet the contents of my savings account that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope wasn't the guy that Tom Gores wanted to select. I'm sure he wanted 'the flashy Wolverine PG who will put butts in Palace seats' so he no longer had to hire the likes of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer to generate some "fan interest". I gotta imagine that if Burke was the pick, the phones would have immediately started ringing at the Palace box office with loads of UofM slappys wanting to sign-up to see how their guy does in the pros.

With Joe's job on the line, he went against the grain.

As casual internet fans, we have no idea how all these rookies will pan-out. All I know is that if KCP isn't as good as Burke, Joe will likely be fired. Heck, I'll go a step further and say if Burke ends up being better than Brandon Knight, Joe will probably be fired. Pope didn't fall to the Pistons. The Pistons reached out and grabbed this guy above a lot of other dudes that fans were wanting. This was one of the craziest drafts in recent memory and nobody can say how it will end up playing out.

HOPEFULLY, Joe and his scouts know more than everyone else. ...I think they probably do
I don't think that Joe would have stuck his neck out to select Pope Kontavious the 1st if he wasn't sure that this guy was going to be amazing. I'm excited because this pick was such a bold and unexpected move. To me, this means Joe must know something about KCP that we don't.

Excellent post by the way. I think that Joe either went against the grain for the sake of winning... or he still feels burned by the Mateen pick and just couldn't bring himself to draft the local hero again.

For the record, I thought the Mateen pick was actually a pretty good one. It put butts in seats, generated interest in the Pistons, and (theoretically) filled a need.

Whether or not this pick is the "right" pick may take a few years to shake-out, but I can say that this was indeed a brave pick.

When all the "experts" are saying you need a PG and you pass up an in-state Naismith award winning hero who just finished leading his team to the NCCA championship game; that takes some testicular fortitude. Picking Trey Burke would have been beyond safe. It would have been the pick to make if you were more interested in winning a popularity contest than an NBA championship. No matter how Burke turns out, drafting him could have been easily justified by spraying around talking points like "home town guy", "team leader", "college player of the year", etc... Nobody could blame Joe if Trey ended up being a bust for the Pistons.

I'd bet the contents of my savings account that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope wasn't the guy that Tom Gores wanted to select. I'm sure he wanted 'the flashy Wolverine PG who will put butts in Palace seats' so he no longer had to hire the likes of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer to generate some "fan interest". I gotta imagine that if Burke was the pick, the phones would have immediately started ringing at the Palace box office with loads of UofM slappys wanting to sign-up to see how their guy does in the pros.

With Joe's job on the line, he went against the grain.

As casual internet fans, we have no idea how all these rookies will pan-out. All I know is that if KCP isn't as good as Burke, Joe will likely be fired. Heck, I'll go a step further and say if Burke ends up being better than Brandon Knight, Joe will probably be fired. Pope didn't fall to the Pistons. The Pistons reached out and grabbed this guy above a lot of other dudes that fans were wanting. This was one of the craziest drafts in recent memory and nobody can say how it will end up playing out.

HOPEFULLY, Joe and his scouts know more than everyone else. ...I think they probably do
I don't think that Joe would have stuck his neck out to select Pope Kontavious the 1st if he wasn't sure that this guy was going to be amazing. I'm excited because this pick was such a bold and unexpected move. To me, this means Joe must know something about KCP that we don't.

Welcome to the team Kontavious!
...no pressure man.

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I have to agree, I know many of my co-workers wanted Burke, I also found it funny that Joe Dumars said he had several scenarios where he had talked with Trey about draft day possibilities. Maybe Trey didn't want to be a Piston, if he and Joe had an ongoing dialogue/relationship, maybe Trey knew all along as did Joe that they weren't gonna take him. I think Joe is riding out the BK/PG experient now that he has Cheeks as the HC. Not sure that it'll work, but it's the plan that Joe is going with. No one in this draft blew me away. Especially when the alleged #1 pick fell to 6 and the guy that might fall to us went #1. It was by far a draft that had me wondering WTH? I do like that Joe drafted a postional player that fits the position of need. This should spell the end for Stuckey in Detroit. (package him in a trade/waive him). I just want to see what comes next.

Whether or not this pick is the "right" pick may take a few years to shake-out, but I can say that this was indeed a brave pick.

When all the "experts" are saying you need a PG and you pass up an in-state Naismith award winning hero who just finished leading his team to the NCCA championship game; that takes some testicular fortitude. Picking Trey Burke would have been beyond safe. It would have been the pick to make if you were more interested in winning a popularity contest than an NBA championship. No matter how Burke turns out, drafting him could have been easily justified by spraying around talking points like "home town guy", "team leader", "college player of the year", etc... Nobody could blame Joe if Trey ended up being a bust for the Pistons.

Click to expand...

This shows Joe's learned, because pretty much all of that applies to Mateen Cleaves, who was a pretty big mistake. However, the Naismith thing had me thinking, so I looked it up. Here are the last 20 Naismith winners:

While waiting for the Pistons pick I thought - Its happened again! Another Gem has fallen to us. Then I hear with the 8th pick the Pistos select
dada Pope someone. 1st thoughts were What? Who is that?

I know Burke is short and we would have had to make some quick deals to dump Knight - but if he is another AI or something then I don't know. I guess our new guy can shoot and overall does not seem like a bad SG, should be able to win the starting spot. Also appears that JD still has faith in Knight.

There must have been some intense struggling in the WAR room if Joe, Gores and Cheeks were all there squirming after the first five picks were out of sequence of what all of the mock drafts had spelled out. They must have already known they were going to pick Pope. Burke was the safe pick as BDL indicated in his great post, but if he winds up being the rookie of the year and our Pope turns out to be the next Rodney White, Joe will be gone.

My only question is what would they have done if Noel was sitting there at the 8th spot, would they have picked him and used him as bargaining chip to trade for a vet and lower draft pick?

The five times or so I saw KCP play last year, including a 32 point and 13 rebound game in a loss to LSU in the SEC Tourney, you were drawn to him. He has size for a SG, 6-5 1/2, and he absolutely has jets on both ends of the floor. The Pistons also have had success with bigger guards like him, most recently with Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. He primarily guarded the opposing team’s best player and I know that is not saying much in the SEC, but he often would completely lock them down. Against one of the top two teams in the conference at the time Kentucky, not only did KCP have a great game, 24 and 10, but he helped UGA beat UK in a game the Cats needed to win to get into the NCAA Tournament.